21 Republican states threaten legal action against Biden Covid bill

[brooklynite]

Source: The Independent

Twenty one Republican state attorneys general have threatened to take legal action against the Biden administration over “unprecedented and unconstitutional” limits imposed in the coronavirus relief bill on the ability of states to lower taxes.

The attorneys general made the threat in a letter to the administration on Tuesday, just a few days after President Joe Biden signed the $1.9 trillion (£1.3 trillion) bill into law.

In the seven-page letter sent to Treasury secretary Janet Yellen on Tuesday, the 21 GOP officials argued that parts of the funding in the relief package that helps states offset the costs of the pandemic limits their ability to lower taxes.

The Republican officials referred to the American Rescue Plan, a pot of $350bn (£251bn) that has been set aside as part of the bill to help cash-strapped areas affected by the shutting down of the hospitality sector and mass unemployment caused by the pandemic.

Read more: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/biden-covid-bill-republican-states-legal-action-b1818407.html

[Freethinker65]

1. Then fucking opt out of any and all aid. It passed. Elections have consequences.

[BobTheSubgenius]

18. I could not agree more.

Churlish bastards...to put it kindly.

[LakeArenal]

2. GOP seems determined to lose all future elections.

[bdamomma]

13. Trying

their best to steal elections through voter suppression. The GOP did not vote for the Covid Bill, none of them. they just care about those donors, not the American people. Period.

Once people get their vaccines and money in their pockets look out, we will be back!!!

[HUAJIAO]

17. I read somewhere ALEC and their like......

[left-of-center2012]

4. So ...

If GOP states lower taxes, there will be less 'state funding' to fight COVID-19?

They want to cut funding, take off the masks, and open everything up?

[blm]

5. Sue Republican Atty Gen group for aiding insurrection.

They’re guilty as hell and they know it. They are looking to replenish their funding with this stunt.

[Phoenix61]

6. They want the money but don't want to accept the terms.

Well I want a million dollar, zero interest loan that I can repay when I hit the lottery. Sounds just as crazy.

[The Magistrate]

7. These Shit-Heels Seem To Think This Is a Block Grant, Sir

It is not.

It is money sent for a specific purpose. It is lawful for the Federal government to insist monies provided for a specific purpose be used for that purpose.

Nothing stops them from reducing taxes. They just cannot use this money to off-set the reductions in their state's spending which must result from reducing the revenue they collect.


"Can't nobody here play this game?"

[CaptainTruth]

9. Good points, thanks!

[ProfessorGAC]

15. Dead On!

Of course the federal government can dictate how specific funds are used. It's been going on for over 200 years.
If the rules are too restrictive for them, decline the funds! Simple solution.

[PortTack]

8. They don't want their constituents to have relief or to know that our federal government actually

Can and does help!

And of course that the Dems were the ones that provided it

[patphil]

10. These people really are determined to prevent the Democrats from help anyone.

I say let them opt out of the bill if they want to.

[Midnight Writer]

11. So we gum up the Courts with countless motions. Trump has shown us The Way.

Drag it out in our archaic Court system until the program is complete and the issue is moot.

[ZonkerHarris]

12. Same states that tried to stop the election results from being certified so they are not

very good lawyers in these positions.

[eggplant]

14. They want to bury a permanent tax cut behind a temporary windfall.

"See? This tax cut isn't costing you anything!" (this year)

[durablend]

16. Send it back.

Problem solved!

[KS Toronado]

19. That's the very reason the Biden administration put restrictions on how it was to be spent.

They knew beforehand Qpublicans would use it to enrich the wealthy, not help the poor or middle class.
If they really wanted a say in how the relief bill was written, maybe they should have had their reQug
senators vote for it, not against it. The BIG CRYBABIES.